Carter And Other People

and the Penitent. The plot of this story is taken from two poems, one by Browning and one by Owen Meredith. Happening to read these two poems, one after the other, I was struck by the fact that Owen Meredith had unwittingly written what was in effect a continuation of a situation invented by Browning the plot of the one poem, teIescoped into the plot of the other, made in effect a complete short story. I pasted the two situations together, so to speak, inventing an ending of my own, and had a short story which neither Browning nor Owen Meredith could claim as his-and which I scarcely have the nerve to claim as mine. And yet this story, taken piecemeal from the two poets, gave me more trouble than anything else I ever tried to write it- was all there, apparently but to transpose the story into a modern American setting was a difficult job. It is my only essay in conscious plagiarism-I hate to call it pIagiarism, but what else could one call it-and I give you my word that it is easier to invent than to pragiarize. The one-act play, Words and Thoughts, was written ten years ago and has been offered to every theatricaI manager in America, and refused by them all. I still believe in it as a thing that couId be acted with effect, and I am determined to get it read, even if I cannot get it produced. The fact that it has been going the rounds of theatrical managers for ten years is no indication that it has ever been read....